The Missing Code

Being in the information technology, the Virus is not new for me. While I was in college I was told, that in the world of Information Technology, the term VIRUS is an abbreviation of for Vital Information Resources Under Siege. But really is the concept that simple? I dare to differ. The creator of the first virus sat somewhere in Pakistan and created a piece of code that would create some malfunctions in a host computer, so that they could defeat their opponents in a game sitting on that computer. They didn't knew that what they created was a virus. It was only after that the piece of code was discovered and analyzed, and after a very major thought the name VIRUS was coined. But why the name Virus, why not something else?



Guess the answer lies in the similar behavioural patterns of both the things. If we think from the IT perspective, then we can easily see that a basic biological Virus is nothing more than a Framework capable of executing three very specific pieces of code :

1. A code that would enable a virus to identify it's suitable host. We all know that biological viruses are very specific to their host. Therefore we can assume that they have some kind of genetic hard coding to identify their specific host body/environment.
2. A code that would allow the virus to consume it's host body/environment.
3. Above all, the only thing that make a biological Virus seem leaving, a code to reproduce itself.

So, now we can clearly see two things - First, a biological virus has very specific hard coding to identify and consume it's host. Second, it has a very vital code MISSING - The Self Destruction Code. A virus in it's very simple form won't age and die off. That explains why viruses are a very tough customer to deal with. Bacterias do have this code but not viruses. They need some external agents that should have the capability to breach through it's framework and work in reverse chronological order, i.e. first break the code for reproduction, then break the code of consumption and lastly break the code of attaching it to the host.

A close scrutiny would tell us that a computer virus works the same way and there's no way we can differentiate between a Biological Virus (whom we call as living) and a Computer Virus (whom we call as non-living. Guess we call them non-living because they exists in cyber space and not outside it. But then again we also know that Biological viruses exists only inside their host and no where else!!!). Imagine what would happen if there a creature made up of Viruses instead of ordinary body building cells ...... scary huh??

So, the biggest strength of a Virus is that missing code that stops it from aging and allowing it to live through ages unperturbed. It's that decrementing counter that helped the Virus to become one of prime contenders to cast Armageddon on the Planet. As for the brighter aspect, they are showing us the way by which we can widen to horizon of life and find more possible forms of life, both on the Planet and outside.